Queen Sheba's Ring eBook

“Only that here we stand not so very far above
the city Harmac, of which I chanced to take the level,
and that behind yonder chair there was, I think, once
a passage which has been built up. But be pleased
to say nothing of the matter, Lady, and to ask me
no more questions at present, as I cannot answer them
with certainty.”

“I see that you are discreet as well as wise,”
she replied with some sarcasm. “Well, since
I may not be trusted with your counsel, keep it to
yourself.”

Oliver bowed and obeyed this curt instruction.

Then we began our return journey, passing many more
groups of skeletons which now we scarcely troubled
to look at, perhaps because the heavy air filled with
dust that once had been the flesh of men, was telling
on our energies. Only I noticed, or rather the
observant Quick called my attention to the fact, that
as we went the kings in their chairs were surrounded
by fewer and fewer attendants and women, and that the
offerings placed at their feet were of an ever-lessening
value. Indeed, after we had passed another five
or six of them, their murdered retinues dwindled to
a few female skeletons, doubtless those of favourite
wives who had been singled out for this particular
honour.

At length there were none at all, the poor monarchs,
who now were crowded close together, being left to
explore the shades alone, adorned merely with their
own jewellery and regalia. Ultimately even these
were replaced by funeral gold-foil ornaments, and
the trays of treasure by earthenware jars which appeared
to have contained nothing but food and wine, and added
to these a few spears and other weapons. The last
of the occupied chairs, for there were empty ones
beyond, contained bones which, from their slenderness
and the small size of the bracelets among them, I
saw at once had belonged to a woman who had been sent
to the grave without companions or any offerings at
all.

“Doubtless,” said Maqueda, when I pointed
this out to her, “at that time the ancients
had grown weak and poor, since after so many kings
they permitted a woman to rule over them and had no
wealth to waste upon her burial. That may have
been after the earthquake, when only a few people
were left in Mur before the Abati took possession of
it.”

“Where, then, are those of your own house buried?”
asked Oliver, staring at the empty chairs.

“Oh! not in this place,” she answered;
“I have told you it was discovered but a few
years ago. We rest in tombs outside, and for my
part I will sleep in the simple earth, so that I may
live on in grass and flowers, if in no other way.
But enough of death and doom. Soon, who can tell
how soon? we shall be as these are,” and she
shuddered. “Meanwhile, we breathe, so let
us make the best of breath. You have seen your
fee, say, does it content you?”

“What fee?” he asked. “Death,
the reward of Life? How can I tell until I have
passed its gate?”